Introduction to Business Statistics Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This is an introductory level course for those who wish to use statistics in social science, or in any other context. The course provides a precise and accurate treatment of introductory probability theory, statistical ideas, methods and techniques. The course also enables students to begin to appreciate empirical literature in the field of Business.

This course is intended to prepare students for the use of statistics in more advanced empirical courses, and accustom students to using statistical methods in further studies.

Course Aims

• Develop the statistical tools essential for further study in Economics and Business.
• Teach the techniques necessary for carrying out well-informed simple regression.
•  Apply those ideas with emphasis on their application to economic problems. 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Professional Skills

Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning strategies for this course will include: 

A minimum of 36 contact hours, typically to include interactive group teaching, co-curriculars, individual meetings, in-class presentations and exams.

Course information and supplementary materials are available on the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Students will receive individualised developmental feedback on their work for this course.

Students are required to attend and participate in all the formal and timetabled sessions for this course. Students are also expected to manage their directed learning and independent study in support of the course.

Assessment

Formative

Students will be formatively assessed in class through class activities, and during office hours. Formative assessments are ones that do not count towards the final grade but will provide students with developmental feedback.

Summative

Further information on the structure of summative assessment elements can be found in the Summative Assessment Briefs.

Feedback

Students will receive feedback in a variety of ways: written (including via email correspondence); oral (within office hours or on an ad hoc basis) and indirectly through class discussion.

Feedback on examinations is provided through generic internal examiners’ reports and are made available to the student on the VLE.

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is used as part of the approval/modification process only.

Books

Newbold, P., W.L. Carlson and B.M. Thorne Statistics for Business and Economics. (London: Prentice-Hall, 2009) seventh edition.

Electronic Resources

Pearson MyMathLab

Indicative Topics

• Descriptive Statistics
• Probability, Random Variables and Sampling Distributions
• Efficiency, biased and unbiased estimators
• Inferential Statistics
• Correlation and Regression